An analysis of the bitcoin blockchain cryptography
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that was first introduced in 2009. The Bitcoin mining process relies on the hashing function SHA-256. There are strong indications that the Bitcoin mining process was exploited in 2010, only a year after its initial release [9]. This raises significant questions over the security of cryptocurrencies, and if they are to be used in the future, it is imperative that their integrity remains unchallenged. Further research on this topic is therefore warranted. In this paper additional frequency analyses were conducted on the blockchain in an attempt to narrow down and identify related anomalies. In order to identify how this might have been done in practice, the SHA-256 algorithm was analysed in the context of Bitcoin mining. Analyses show that the timestamp could potentially be manipulated for an easier mining process due to the Bitcoin network's lax timestamp range. In addition, invariant cycles can be found in the logical functions used in SHA-256 which could potentially allow a backdoor into the cipher without leaving an obvious trace.
Tölvunarfræði, Gjaldmiðlar, Rafræn viðskipti, Dulmál, Computer science, Bitcoin, Cryptography
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations